Ho'opa'i
by Twilight86x
Summary: When an old friend of Steve's needs help he wants to do everything he can to help her. He soon realises however that not everything is as it seems with her. Can he uncover what she's hiding and what really brought her back to Hawaii? Violence, Strong Language and sexual references
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter One**

Commander Steven McGarrett was standing before his father's grave. It felt strange to him, placing flowers there, yet here he was laying an orange and yellow arrangement on the grass. He didn't get to come out to see his father as often as he liked, but when he did he found it comforting and peaceful.

Steve knelt down and started talking, general small talk at first then he began to talk about Wo Fat and then finally he told his dad about the case they were working at the moment. All over the island strippers and prostitutes were turning up dead, Five-O knew who was committing the murders, but they couldn't get close to him.

Ming Sun was a suspected Crime Boss and Pimp, he owned several strip clubs, burlesque lounges and gentleman's clubs all over Hawaii, but no one had ever been able to prove any wrong doing. Now he was committing these horrific murders and they couldn't find a shred of evidence to tie him to any of them.

"We could really use you on this one pop," Steve said, twirling a blade of grass through his fingertips. "You'd know exactly how to nail this guy. I just wish we had something."

Just as he finished speaking, Steve heard a gentle sob coming from behind him. Turning around to see where it was coming from he saw a young woman sitting a few graves away, tears streaming down her soft tanned skin. Even from this distance Steve could tell she was a very attractive woman, even with her features contorted with grief.

Her long, black hair hung in a braid down her back, her skin was the colour of milky coffee, her lips were full, all the hallmarks of being a native of the Island. There was one thing that made her standout from all the others, her eyes were the brightest turquoise Steve had ever seen. They were vivid even when there was so much distance between them.

It was the eyes that did it. He had only ever seen eyes like that on three people in his entire life and all three of them were related. His best friend growing up on the Island had been Nani Mathis. Her mother Kalani had been a native of the Island she'd fallen in love with a haole while he was on holiday with some friends. Rick Mathis had decided to stay on the Island and marry Kalani. A year after their marriage they'd had Nani.

From what Nani told him, her mother had a rough pregnancy and thought that she couldn't have any more children. Then when they were both ten, Nani told Steve that her mother was having another baby. Leialoha had been that baby. Some of Steve's fondest memories of the six years that followed were playing with baby Leialoha and Nani.

He guessed that the girl sitting at the grave was Leialoha; she looked to only be in her early to mid twenties, too young to be Nani who would be the same age as Steve. Getting to his feet he made his way over to where the girl knelt, crying.

"Leialoha?" Steve asked tentatively.

The girl gasped and jumped to her feet, her amazing eyes wide. "Do...do I know you?"

"I'm sorry," Steve rushed to apologise. "I didn't mean to frighten you. I'm Steve McGarrett, I went to school with your sister, Nani."

"Steve?" Leialoha asked, frowning slightly. She was thoughtful for a moment, wiping the tears from her damp cheeks. "I...I think I remember you. Nani used to talk about you all the time."

"Is everything all right?"

"I...no," Leialoha shook her head. "It's not all right Steve, nothing is all right anymore."

She pointed to the grave she had been kneeling at and Steve turned around to read the name. His heart hammered in his chest when he saw the name etched on the tombstone. Nani Mathis, beloved sister and daughter. The date of death was three weeks ago.

"What happened?" he asked.

A fresh wave of tears fell from Leialoha's eyes and she broke down, her knees giving way. Steve caught her in his arms and allowed her to cry. She sobbed into his shoulders and clung to the front of his t-shirt. He rubbed her back carefully, feeling his own eyes fill with tears. It had been about twenty years since he'd seen Nani, but the knowledge of her death still tore at his insides.

Leialoha cried for several minutes, her small frame shook is his arms. Even through his grief Steve was aware of how soft and warm she felt against his body. The last time he'd seen her she'd been a six year old with pigtails, now she was a beautiful young woman.

"I'm so sorry," he whispered against her soft hair.

"She really cared about you Steve," Leialoha whispered through her tears. "She was devastated when you were sent away. After that everything just fell apart."

"What happened?" Steve asked again.

Leialoha pulled away from him then, looking up into his blue eyes. "She was murdered Steve. Someone killed her."

**TBC...**


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter Two**

"Thank you," Leialoha smiled tentatively, accepting the cup of coffee Steve handed to her.

They were sitting at Steve's dining room table. He sat across from her, cradling his own mug of coffee. They both sat in silence for a few moments, sipping the hot liquid. Leialoha looked around with mild interest, taking in every detail of McGarrett's house.

"Leialoha, tell me everything," Steve finally broke the silence, pulling her attention back to him.

"No one calls me Leialoha anymore Steve. It's just Leia now."

"Ok," Steve nodded. He didn't press her, imagining that it must be difficult to talk about her sister. It was obvious from the way he had found her at the grave yard it was still an incredibly painful subject for her.

"You know Nani had the biggest crush on you on high school," Leia smiled, remembering the way her sister used to talk about her best friend. "When I was ten, I guess that was four years after you left, I read one of her old diaries. She was away at college, it was before...before the accident."

"I heard about your parents, I'm sorry I couldn't be there for you both," Steve smiled gently. He reached across the table and squeezed her hand. She pulled it back, out of his reach and looked at the table.

When she looked back up her eyes were filled with tears. "That's when everything fell apart, when Nani fell apart. She had to drop out of school to come home and take care of me; she had to be strong for me. She...uh...got a job working the nightshift, she said it was waitressing and maybe it was at first."

Leia trailed off, she looked down at the mug and began turning it in her hands. Steve sat patiently, he had the urge to take her hand in his again, but after her reaction the first time he figured it wouldn't be the best idea.

"Your dad was great to me Steve," Leia finally whispered. "I'm sorry about what happened to him. He would watch me sometimes when Nani was working, then when things got really bad he was really there for me."

"What do you mean?" he asked when she paused again, still fiddling with her mug.

"She wasn't just waitressing," Leia sighed, she looked up at him. "She was stripping Steve, at first it was just dancing, then she started going out with the girls after work, drinking, among other things. I'd barely see her at all; I spent most of my time with friends, neighbours or your Dad. I tried to help her, tried to get her help, but she just got worse. I'm ashamed to admit that I gave up on her."

"It wasn't your fault," Steve assured her. He fought the urge to reach out to her again, this time it wasn't just to take her hand. He wanted to hold her in his arms and comfort her, it wasn't a feeling he was used to. "Nani's choices were her own."

"She gave up school to take care of me, she took that job to pay bills and to send me to college, how is that not my fault McGarrett?"

"She was smart, she may have dropped out of college, but she could still have gotten a better job. She made the choice to start stripping; you didn't make it for her. The dancing, the drinking, the drugs it was all her not you."

Leia shook her head. "She was getting out though. She called me a few weeks before she died; she said that she was clean and that she was quitting work. She was going to move to the mainland to live with me and go back to school. Then I got the call to say that she was dead, they said she'd taken an overdose. Someone killed her and made it look like an overdose. She was clean, she wanted help, why then would she want to kill herself? It doesn't make sense Steve, I know that she didn't do that to herself, someone killed her and I'm not leaving this island until I find out who."

"Where was she working?"

Leia gave a humourless laugh. "A 'gentleman's' club called The Midnight Lounge. It's run by a man named Ming Sun."

Steve froze in his seat. At first he wasn't sure that he believed that Nani hadn't taken her own life. The way Leia painted the picture it sounded as though Nani was having a hard time, maybe she _had_ taken her own life. That was until Leia had told him the name of the man that she worked for.

Leaning across the table, Steve took Leia's hand again, this time he didn't let her pull away. He looked her in the eye, his gaze intense. "Leia I want you to listen to me. I will do whatever I can to help you, I'll have Five-O look into your sister's case, I promise, but you have to promise me something in return."

"What?"

"Promise me that you won't go anywhere near Ming Sun."

Leia shook her head. "Steve I can't promise that. I have to find out what happened to Nani, she was the only family I had left."

"Ming Sun is dangerous Leia; you have no idea what he's capable of. Please, just promise me that you won't go near him. Let me and my team handle this. Your sister was my best friend for years, I loved her more than you could imagine. It always killed me that we never stayed in touch after I moved, and when I moved back I should have tried harder to get in touch with her. At least now I know why she never returned my calls. You're all I have left of her Leialoha. Please promise me."

Leia's eyes swam with tears and she squeezed Steve's fingers gently. "I promise," she whispered. "I won't go near Ming Sun."

"Thank you," Steve smiled softly. He got up from his seat and went around the table to where Leia sat. Once at her side he brushed away her tears with his thumb then pulled her into a hug. "I will find out what happened to your sister Leia, I swear it."

**TBC...**


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter Three**

After dropping Leia at her apartment, Steve headed to Five-O headquarters to meet up with his partner Danny Williams. He found his friend in his office, his feet were on his desk and he leaned back in his chair, his eyes were closed.

"Hey, sleeping beauty," Steve greeted the tired man. "Rise and shine, we have work to do."

"We always have work to do," Danny muttered opening his eyes and sitting up right. "What now?"

"We need to go and see Max," Steve explained. "We may have another Ming Sun victim."

That got Danny's attention. He got to his feet and hurried around the desk, following Steve out to the car. "Do we know who?"

"Her name was Nani Mathis. She was an old friend of mine from when I was a kid. I met her sister today; she told me that Nani died three weeks ago."

"Three weeks? So she could be our first victim?"

"Yeah," Steve nodded. He flashed back to that afternoon with Leia, holding her while she finished telling him everything she could think of on the lead up to Nani's death. "Her sister told me that Nani worked for Ming Sun, she said that Nani was going to quit and move to the mainland to live with her. She said she called a few days before her death to say she was just sorting some stuff out, her flight was scheduled for the day after she died. The coroner ruled it as a suicide, but Leia said that Nani seemed scared before her death."

"Wait, it was ruled a suicide?" Danny asked, his pace slowing.

Steve stopped and rounded on his friend. "She didn't kill herself."

"How do you know?" Danny asked. "Does her sister have any proof?"

"No," Steve sighed.

"Then what makes you think that she has anything to do with our investigation?"

"My gut."

"Oh the famous gut," Danny shook his head. He looked away for a few seconds before turning back to the other man. "She got to you didn't she?"

"What?"

"The sister," Danny explained. "She got to you, that's why you're doing this."

"I'm doing this because Nani was my best friend when I was a kid and I got sent away and we drifted apart. If I'd just kept in touch with her..."

"No, Steve this isn't your fault. You can't go blaming yourself for this."

"I don't," Steve assured him. "I blame Ming Sun. Now are you going to come with me to see Max or not?"

Danny sighed. "Fine, let's go. It wouldn't be the first time they'd ruled a homicide as a suicide."

Steve nodded and the pair resumed their journey to the M.E.'s office. It didn't take them long to reach the morgue. The found Max already in the middle of performing an autopsy. He saw them through the glass of the autopsy room and motioned for them to give him a minute.

The pair waited in the outer office area until Max joined them. As they waited Danny couldn't help but notice how agitated Steve was. Danny knew that the case had been getting to his friend, but he feared that the addition of his old friend as a potential victim would push Steve over the edge into obsession.

"Gentlemen," Max greeted them, removing a pair of rubber gloves. "It's nice to see you. To what do I owe the pleasure?"

"Did you perform an autopsy on a Nani Mathis about three weeks ago?" Steve asked, ignoring the pleasantries.

"I believe that I did, yes," Max nodded.

"Can I see the report?"

"What's this about?"

"Nani was a friend of mine," Steve explained. "Her sister came to me earlier today, she doesn't believe that Nani was murdered..."

"And you wondered if I had possibly made a mistake?"

"Is it possible?" Steve asked.

"Nani Mathis died of an overdose," Max assured the Commander. "That was cause of death, there is no doubt in that. I however did not make the ruling that it was a suicide. That would have been the Detective in charge of the investigation. I presented my findings, and using the evidence he had collected he ruled it a suicide."

"Who was the Detective?" Danny asked, knowing his friend would want to visit him next.

Max moved over to his computer and tapped away at a few keys. After a few moments he found what he was looking for and turned back to Steve and Danny.

"Detective Carl Johnson," he told them. "He was the Detective in charge. He made the decision that your friend's death was suicide and not murder."

"Did you find anything in the autopsy that may have indicated otherwise?"

"I'm sorry Commander but there was nothing at all that would have suggested foul play."

Max gave Steve a copy of the autopsy findings before he left. Steve thanked the M.E. and walked out of the morgue with Danny. Their next stop was the Honolulu Police Department.

"Steve I hate to say it, but it looks like a cut and dry suicide to me. Max didn't find anything wrong, and the Detective wouldn't have closed the case if there wasn't sufficient evidence to support their decision."

"Evidence can be faked," Steve argued. "We both know what Ming Sun is capable of. Leia believes her sister was murdered, I owe it to her to check it out at least."

"The sister, she said that Nani was scared before she was killed?"

"I know what you're thinking, trust me I thought it was just the drugs at first," Steve answered. "All of these murders, Ming Sun's involvement, Nani's death it can't all be a coincidence."

"True, but why try and cover this particular murders and not the others? Why the change in M.O?"

"The others were crimes of passion, maybe with Nani there was a different motive. Maybe she saw something she wasn't supposed to, maybe that was why she was trying to get out."

"You're reaching."

"Please Danny, for me can we at least just check it out?" Steve pleaded. "If we don't find anything then I'll let it go."

"And her sister? Do you think _she'll_ just let it go?" Danny enquired.

"I hope so," Steve sighed, suddenly worried about Leia.

**TBC...**


End file.
